EFFECT OF THE PARTICLE SURFACE ACTIVATION ON THE SINTERING KINETICS OF ZIRCONIA BASED NANOPOWDERS

In the present study authors examined the sintering behavior on the initial sintering stage of fine tetragonal zirconia nanopowders (containing 3 mol % Y2O3) with and without mechanical activation in a ball mill. The initial sintering behavior was examined by constant rate of heating method (CRH) at different heating rates. We defined a role of the particles surface mechanical activation and its influence on the sintering mechanisms during the sintering of yttrium-stabilized zirconia nanopowders. We found that even a small mechanical action causes change initial characteristics of nanopowdres which can accelerate sintering processes. Increases of milling time causes change of sintering mechanism from volume (VD) to the grain-boundary (GBD).